Fluid flow monitoring

ABSTRACT

In order to discriminate between laminar flow and turbulent flow states, and to provide an indication, e.g. to a pilot of an aircraft of air flow over an aircraft wing, a sensor mounted on the wing provides an analogue signal of airflow, and an intermittency value of the analogue signal is derived in analogue circuitry including an AC coupling of the signal to an integrator for integrating the signal for a preset time. The integrated value is compared with a threshold value to indicate whether the intermittency represents quiet laminar flow or noisy turbulent flow.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to method and apparatus for monitoringfluid flow, particularly though not exclusively air flow over anaircraft wing surface.

BACKGROUND ART

Anemometry devices for measuring wind speed by exposure of anelectrically heated element to air flow are known. For example deviceshave been used in wind tunnels comprising a wire suspended betweenupstanding terminals. The wire is electrically energised and is mountedin an electronic circuit which maintains the wire at a constant currentor a constant temperature/resistance. The circuit monitors consequentchanges of voltage across the wire brought about by variations in theconvective heat transfer rate as the speed of the flow under observationchanges. It has been recently proposed in WO2007/034240 to provide ananemometry device of a construction which is suitable for use within-service aircraft, for boundary layer control of air flowing over anaircraft wing. Airflow over an aircraft wing is simply characterised bythree flow states, namely laminar flow, which is usually desired, whichbreaks into turbulent flow above certain angles of incidence, andseparated flow, which occurs as a transition from turbulent flow forstill greater angles of incidence. In practice the situation is morecomplex, and flow transitions may occur for other reasons such aschanging air speed or external disturbances, and different states mayexist over different areas of the wing. In addition, there is a furtherminor flow state, named the transitional state, between laminar andturbulent flow, but its properties are not precisely defined.

There remains the need for an inexpensive means of providinginformation, from the signal outputs of such anemometry devices, of thestate of fluid flow over the anemometry device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide method and apparatus fordistinguishing between laminar flow and other flow states, principallyturbulent flow, in the situation where fluid flows over a surface.

It has been established that there is a qualitative, or characteristic,difference in signal output from an anemometry device depending onwhether fluid flow over the device is laminar, turbulent or separated.For laminar fluid flow, the signal output tends to be roughly constantwith little short term variation. For turbulent and separated flowhowever, due to the presence of small or microscopic disturbances in thefluid flow, the sensor output is very variable, containing highfrequency variations and many small impulses or spikes. It has beenfound that it is possible to determine, with an appropriate statisticalmeasure of the signal output, whether the output is sufficientlyvariable, oscillatory or impulsive to represent turbulent or separatedflow.

An appropriate statistical measure is that known as “intermittency”,which may be regarded, for the purposes of the present specification, asthe quality of being intermittent; that is occurring at intervals, butsubject to interruption and cessation for periods of time. This derivedsignal parameter has suitable characteristics, since the underlyingphysical phenomenon is that turbulent and separated flow is intermittentwith high levels of turbulence (containing unsteady disturbances)interspersed with relatively quieter periods. However laminar flow isgenerally quiet all the time, and therefore may be distinguished.Further in certain circumstances the intermittency value for separatedflow may be characteristically higher than the intermittency value forturbulent flow, resulting in a large and well-defined step at the onsetof separated flow, and this may therefore be used as an indicator fordistinguishing between turbulent and separated flow.

It has also been established that where a plurality of sensors areprovided adjacent or close to one another in an array, then a furtheruseful measure to distinguish between types of flow is that ofcross-correlation between the outputs of neighbouring sensors. Bothlaminar and separated flows are characterised by large scale coherentflow structures and so adjacent sensors will, broadly speaking, seesimilar behaviour, and therefore a high correlation will exist. Forturbulent flow however, characterised by small-scale variations, therewill be a low correlation. There may be a degree of phase differencebetween adjacent or near neighbour sensors (due to spanwise flow forexample) so inspection over a short period is needed to capture this. Asimple truth table may be constructed to summarise this behaviour, LOWindicates the signal is below a threshold value, HIGH indicated thesignal is above the threshold value. (V) HIGH indicates theintermittency is above a second threshold level if this is well defined.

Cross- Intermittency correlation State LOW HIGH LAMINAR HIGH LOWTURBULENT HIGH HIGH SEPARATED (V)HIGH n/a SEPARATED

Thus an assessment of intermittency may serve to distinguish laminarflow from turbulent flow, and in addition, in appropriate circumstances,separated flow.

In addition it has been discovered that particularly for separated flow,the sensor output signal is frequency sensitive, perhaps exhibitingresonance at certain frequencies, and in particular havingcross-correlation values which may be stronger in one or more frequencybands. This may therefore give an alternative or additional measure offlow. Therefore it may be desirable to split the sensor output signalsinto a number of frequency bands, and to correlate respective signals inthe same frequency band.

Accordingly the present invention provides in a first aspect, a methodof discriminating between laminar flow and other flow states of a fluidat a predetermined location, comprising producing an electrical analoguesignal representative of flow rate at said location, assessingvariability of said analogue signal, including detecting a designatedparameter of said analogue signal to provide a detected version thereof,and summing over time said detected version to provide a summed version,and providing a flow signal indicating whether the flow is laminar independence upon the value of said summed version.

In a further aspect, the invention provides apparatus for discriminatingbetween laminar flow and other flow states of a fluid at a predeterminedlocation, comprising sensing means responsive to flow rate at saidlocation for producing an electrical analogue signal representativethereof, means for assessing variability of said analogue signal,including detection means for detecting a designated parameter ofvariability to provide a detected version of said analogue signal, andsumming means for summing over time said detected version of the signalto provide an output value representing variability, and means forproviding a flow signal indicating whether the flow is laminar independence upon said output value.

Whilst the invention has particular application to detection of flowstate over an aircraft wing, it may be used in other applications, forexample on turbine blades for vehicles or industrial processes, or inany industrial process where laminar flow is required over a surface. Aparticular advantage of the invention is that said flow signal may havejust two values (single bit), i.e. laminar flow is or is not present, sothat this information may be instantly recognisable, e.g. to a pilot ofan aircraft, an operator assessing operation of turbine fan blades, awind tunnel operator or other industrial processes involving fluid flow.However in some circumstances it may be desirable to provide amulti-level indication, representing a degree of confidence that theoutput represents laminar flow or turbulence.

The device for sensing fluid flow may take any form, e.g. anemometercircuits with hot wires of films, sensors as described in WO2007/034240,microphones, or pressure transducers. An appropriate circuit is providedfor giving an analogue output signal. In the case of a hot film sensor,the circuitry may be arranged to keep the flow sensor resistor at aconstant temperature, and comprises a bridge circuit, containing theflow sensor resistor in one arm. An output signal is derived fromopposing nodes of the bridge, and is coupled via an operationalamplifier circuit to an output port. The output signal is fed back to athird node of the bridge for energising the flow sensor resistor, tomaintain a constant temperature of the resistor.

The analogue output signal may be fed to appropriate circuitry forassessing intermittency. As an initial stage, the signal is conditionedprior to signal analysis by appropriate signal conditioning circuitry.This may include low/high pass filters to limit response frequencyrange, and noise filters. Filters could be active or passive, butpassive filtering is preferred for simplicity.

The filtered signal is supplied to a detection means, which may includemechanisms for detecting one or more of:—varying signals, peaks ofimpulsive signals, slope detection or a high pass filtering. Aspreferred, the detection means includes an AC coupling of the analoguesignal (AC coupling gives an analogue output voltage that isproportional to the instantaneous rate of change of the input signal),for cutting out slowly varying signals that do not represent turbulence.This may be a straight forward capacitive coupling of a capacitor in thesignal path, or a high pass RC filter, with a low value for passfrequency. In addition, rectification may be employed to preventsubsequent summing circuits being alternatively charged and discharged.As preferred for simplicity a mechanism for producing a half waverectified or unipolar version of said analogue signal is preferred—thismay require just a single diode in the signal path of the analoguesignal.

Said summing means might comprise in some arrangements a shift registertype mechanism for counting impulsive peaks detected by the detectionmeans, and producing an output when a predetermined number are countedwithin a set time period. Alternatively and as preferred for simplicity,a simple RC integrating circuit is provided, with a suitable timeconstant so that an output of a predetermined level over a certain timeperiod represents a turbulent condition. In a more accurate but complexarrangement, an integrator is clocked so as to integrate over a selectedtime period. At the end of the period a voltage appears at the output ofthe integrator which is related to the amount of noise on the signal forthat period (the intermittency). A sample and hold circuit is clocked tosample the integrator output at the end of the selected time period. Athresholding circuit compares the output of the sample and hold circuitwith one or more preset threshold voltages. Single threshold may be usedfor laminar/turbulent transition indication, multiple thresholds may beused to assign a degree of confidence in the output. The thresholdoutput may trigger a variety of output signals such as: fixed outputvoltage level(s), characteristic frequencies or fixed currents for eachconfidence state.

In a practical preferred arrangement, an array of flow rate mechanisms,which may be anemometry devices, microphones, pressure transducers orother suitable devices are arranged in an array on the surface of anaircraft wing for example. Each flow rate mechanism has associatedelectrical circuitry to produce said output value representingintermittency. Said indication means may be associated with each flowrate mechanism; alternatively the indication means may be situatedremote from the flow rate mechanisms, and may gather all the outputvalues from the flow rate mechanisms, and rely on a voting mechanismetc, to produce an indication of whether the flow is laminar orturbulent. In a very simple form, the indicator means may comprise alight on the control panel of an aircraft, which is turned on in thecase of turbulent flow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a graph of laminar flow as measured by a voltage output signalfrom an anemometry device over a time period of about 100 msec;

FIG. 2 is a graph of turbulent flow as measured by a voltage outputsignal from an anemometry device over a time period of about 100 msec;

FIG. 3 is a graph of separated flow as measured by a voltage outputsignal from an anemometry device over a time period of about 100 msec;

FIG. 4 is a graph showing intermittency measurement values for twostates of flow: laminar and turbulent;

FIG. 5 is a graph showing intermittency measurement values for threestates of flow: laminar, turbulent and separated;

FIG. 6 is a graph showing cross-correlation measurement values betweentwo adjacent sensors for three states of flow: laminar, turbulent andseparated;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of a chip incorporating an array of severalhot film flow sensors of the type described in WO2007/034240;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of an array of hot film flow sensors of FIG.7, each with respective associated circuitry;

FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram of a constant temperature bridge circuit forproviding an analogue voltage output from a single sensor device of FIG.7;

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram of a more complex embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 11 is a circuit diagram of part of a preferred embodiment of theinvention; and

FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram of an arrangement in accordance with theinvention, employing techniques of cross-correlation.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

This invention concerns the development of a device to provide a simpleindication of the state of airflow, principally distinguishing betweenturbulent and laminar flow. In the preferred embodiment the deviceprovides flow state monitoring at selected locations on an air vehiclebut the device could also be used on other vehicles types and to monitorindustrial processes.

Intermittency provides a good indication of flow state. The preferredembodiments use common circuit elements to perform operations directlyon the analogue flow sensor signal. The proposed device is thereforesimple, cheap and uncomplicated to implement. Tens or hundreds of suchdevices may be required in service so the savings may be considerable.Additionally the device could be fabricated on an integrated circuit aspart of the MEMS sensor and so be made small enough to be mounted withthe sensor directly at the point of measurement. This has manyadvantages in terms of systems stability and immunity from interferenceor signal degradation.

The functionality of the device could be extended to the detection offlow separation by dividing the input signals from adjacent sensors intoseveral discrete frequency bands and comparing intermittency levels toprovide a form of cross-correlation.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 6, these are graphs taken from a measurementprocedure, carried out on an array of hot flow film sensors as shown inFIG. 7. FIG. 7 shows an integrated circuit chip 2 incorporating severalair flow hot film sensors 4, where air flow is measured by voltagechange across the hot film. Each sensor comprises a hot film senseresistor 6 connected between vias 8, which are connected to conductiveterminal pillars 10. The construction is described in more detail inWO2007/034240. The hot film is energised by an electrical circuit,described below, and the signal output from the sensor is in the form ofan analogue voltage. The dimensions of the chip are 13500 μm long×1500μm wide×250 μm thick. Thus the sensors are all located within a few ismillimetres of each other.

The hot-film sensors were mounted on a leading-edge slat of a 2D highlift model in a wind tunnel and measurements taken at Mach 0.2 (68 m/s)giving a chord Reynolds number of ˜3 million. The hot-film samplingfrequency was 10 kHz, and a total of 1024 samples taken for each sensor,corresponding to just over 0.1 seconds. Data from hot-film sensors wascollected, in the form of output voltages from each sensor. In FIGS. 1to 3, the mean voltage values have been subtracted from all the datasupplied, so only the fluctuating component has been analysed. The flowover the slat is such that at below 5° the flow is laminar over thehot-film sensors. Above 5° and below 16° the flow is turbulent, andabove 16° the flow is separated. The transitional flow state has notbeen considered.

It may be seen for the case of laminar flow, shown in FIG. 1, theanalogue output voltage is generally constant and not varying. Theanalogue output voltage for the case of turbulent flow, as shown in FIG.2, is however extremely variable, resembling random noise. The analogueoutput voltage for the case of separated flow, as shown in FIG. 3, isgenerally similar to turbulent flow, but with signal amplitude muchlarger.

In accordance with the invention, the turbulent and separated flowvoltage outputs have been analysed on the basis that flow isintermittent with high levels of turbulence interspersed with relativelyquieter periods, but that laminar flow is essentially quiet all thetime. Therefore, by filtering, smoothing and thresholding smalltime-slices of the signal so that the final result is either 0 (quiet)or 1 (noisy) and then calculating the proportion of time that the signalis noisy, a value called ‘intermittency’ can be calculated which variesbetween 0 and 1, with values close to zero being laminar, and valuesabove zero but below 1 being turbulent.

It can be easily seen for FIG. 4, which plots intermittency valueagainst angle of incidence of the leading-edge slat, that there is astep jump at an angle of 5°, where laminar flow changes to turbulentflow. Thus intermittency provides a clear-cut way of differentiatingbetween laminar and turbulent flow. There is also a fairly clear changein intermittency values between turbulent and separated flows, as shownin FIG. 5, where a step jump in intermittency value occurs at an angleof 16°.

The advantage of using Intermittency rather than other measures such asstandard deviation is that the critical values of Intermittency are notlikely to change very much with changes in flow condition or noise, orsensor location. That is, for example it will probably always be thecase that Intermittency will be less than 0.1 for laminar flow. It wasalso found, although not shown here that the choice of threshold valuein the calculation of Intermittency was not particularly critical(variations of the value by a factor of 2 only made small differences),so any algorithm constructed in this way is likely to be very robust.

Another measure which is employed in accordance with the invention, isthat of cross-correlation between neighbouring sensors, of an array ofsensors. This is indicated graphically in FIG. 6, for two adjacentsensors of the array of FIG. 7. It will be noted that that for turbulentflow, the cross-correlation is low, reflecting very small localdisturbances in air flow, whereas for laminar and separated flow, whichare characterised by more large scale flow states, the correlation ishigh. Thus a means is provided for distinguishing turbulent flow fromthe other two flow states.

Referring now to FIG. 8, this shows a schematic representation of partof the array of FIG. 7 wherein the flow sensors 4 are coupled torespective constant temperature bridge circuits 12, which provide ananalogue output voltage representing flow, to respective intermittencyanalysis circuits 14. The outputs 16 of the analysis circuits aresupplied to an indicator circuit 18, which provides an indication ofwhether the flow is in general laminar, turbulent or separated.

An example of a constant temperature bridge circuit 12 is shown in FIG.9. Sense resistor 6 is connected in one arm of a bridge circuit 20,which comprises fixed resistors 22 in the other three arms. An outputtaken from opposing nodes of the bridge circuit, is supplied to theinput of an operational amplifier 24. The output of the amplifier 24 isfed via a diode 26 and an AC coupling capacitor 28, to a circuit output30. A feedback path 32 from the diode 26 (the diode serving to stabilisethe circuit) energises the bridge circuit 20, and sense resistor 6. Thearrangement is such that when sense resistor 6 is exposed to airflow,and therefore cools, the value of its resistance changes by reason ofthe temperature coefficient of resistance. This creates a change in theoutput signal from the bridge circuit. The consequential output fromamplifier 24 is fed back via path 32 to adjust the current supplied tothe bridge 20, and hence maintain the resistor at a constanttemperature.

Referring now to FIG. 10, this shows in conceptual form a firstembodiment of the invention.

Sensor 40

The preferred embodiment uses MEMS hot film sensor 4 driving a constanttemperature anemometer (CTA) with a frequency response up to 20 kHz. Theanemometer output is an analogue voltage signal which is related totransients in heat convection caused by small scale flow fluctuations inthe flow boundary layer. This voltage can be calibrated to give anindication of the free stream velocity of the flow.

Signal Conditioning 42

A preferred embodiment includes a low pass filter which attenuatesanything above the maximum response rate of the sensor/anemometercombination to reduce noise and disturbance from any high frequencyoscillation of the anemometer circuitry. Other filters may be necessarydepending on the application to limit the frequency range of the inputsignal. The filters could be of an active or passive nature and manycommon circuit elements exist for this purpose. The preferred embodimentwould use simple resistor/capacitor networks for simplicity where thisis possible. The filter output is fed through a capacitor to provide anAC coupled output, i.e. the output of the capacitor is nominally zerovolts under steady conditions and under varying conditions a voltageappears across the capacitor that is proportional to the rate of changeof the input signal. It may also be necessary to apply half waverectification to the signal to prevent alternate charging anddischarging of the integrator during signal polarity reversal.Rectification may be applied within the anemometer circuitry or in thesignal conditioning circuitry. The elements 26 and 28 of the sensecircuitry of FIG. 9 are employed for this purpose.

With relatively slow changes in the speed of the flow (such as thoseencountered during normal vehicle acceleration/deceleration) a verysmall voltage will appear across the capacitor. Likewise under laminarflow conditions the flow is nominally in a steady state and again asmall voltage will be produced. A large amount of noise is generatedacross a wide range of frequencies under turbulent or separatedconditions and this condition would result in a large increase in theoutput voltage across the capacitor.

Integrator 44

This comprises a simple op-amp circuit or functionally similar unit. Thesample period chosen to suit application, sensor frequency response anddesired update intervals. A preferred embodiment uses 10-1000 ms.

An AC coupled input is integrated over the selected time period. At theend of the period a voltage appears at the output of the integratorwhich is related to the amount of noise on the signal for that period(the intermittency). After the output is sampled the integrator is resetand the next cycle begins. To establish the degree of intermittency theoutput of the signal conditioning stage is fed to an integratingamplifier for a predetermined period. At the end of this period theoutput voltage is fed to a sample and hold (S&H) circuit to store thisvoltage and provide input for the threshold detection stage until thenext integration period is complete. Integrating amplifiers are a commoncircuit element often built around an operational amplifier. Theintegrating period will be selected according to the particular systemunder inspection but is likely to be of the order 1-1000 ms. After thisperiod has elapsed the integrator will generate an output voltage thatis proportional to the sum of the inputs over the period. This in turnwill allow an indication to be made of the amount of noise detectedduring this period.

Clock 46

An external clock may be required to synchronise the integrator and S&Hstages, but in the preferred embodiment the two stages would be linkedto provide this control.

Sample and Hold 48

Integrator output is sampled at end of period and is held until the endof the next period. A similar result could also be achieved by latchingthe threshold detection stage.

Thresholding 50

The S&H output voltage is fed to a threshold detection stage. This stagecompares the voltage output with a pre-determined voltage level(s) setaccording to the needs of the system. The reference voltage(s) are setso that the output of the threshold stage changes state when theintegrator voltage exceeds these point(s) and provides an output signalcomprising a simple (single bit) indication of flow state. The use ofmultiple steps could allow a ‘level of confidence’ to be assigned to thestate indication if desired. The threshold detection circuit could bemade to ‘latch’ i.e. maintain its state until it receives a voltageoutside of the currently held range so that the complexity of theintegration/S&H stages could be reduced and if possible remove the needfor a S&H stage altogether. Many common circuit elements could be usedfor this purpose but could include resistive bridges, zener diodes,transistor/diode junction voltage drop, Schmitt triggers etc.

Threshold voltage(s) may be set according to application and may bederived from practical measurements. A single threshold may be used forlaminar/turbulent transition indication, multiple thresholds may be usedto assign a degree of confidence in the output.

Output 52

The output stage provides a signal or indication of flow state in a formsuitable for the systems downstream of the device. Outputs may includefixed voltage/currents, characteristic frequencies etc.

Threshold output may trigger a variety of output signals such as: Fixedoutput voltage level(s), characteristic frequencies or fixed currentsfor each state. Nature of output signal can be tailored to application,downstream hardware, transmission network etc.

Referring now to FIG. 11, this shows a preferred embodiment, wherein thecircuitry is made as simple as possible for cost reduction. A simplerobust device that occupies very little space is desirable for airborneapplications. A highly simplified but functionally equivalent circuit isdesirable as a reduced component count will reduce the overall size andmass of each device. This would be especially important if 10s or 100sof devices are desired.

Sensor and Signal Conditioning Stages 60

The same as those described for the version of the device in FIG. 10.

Integrator 62

For the simple embodiment the half wave rectified, AC coupled output ofthe signal conditioning stage is passed through a simple series/parallelresistor capacitor network 64. This would give a continuously integratedoutput. The integration period is set by selecting the appropriatevalues for the resistors and capacitor to give the desired time constant(charging and discharging rates. This circuitry does not requireadditional external clock or S&H stages.

Threshold Detection 66

The simple version of the device would use similar techniques to thosealready described with reference to FIG. 10.

Referring now to FIG. 12, this shows an arrangement, employingtechniques of cross-correlation to distinguish between states of flow.Two adjacent sensors from the array of FIGS. 7 and 8, together withassociated bridge circuits, 412A and 412B are each coupled to arespective signal conditioning circuit 42, which is similar to circuit42 of FIG. 10. Each circuit 42 is then fed to a bank of passband filters701-705, each having a frequency band, such that in this illustrativeexample, the signal bandwidth of 20 KHz is divided into five equalbands. The output from each passband filter is fed to a circuit 72,which has an AC coupling and halfwave rectification function, to anintegrating circuit 74, which may be similar to that shown in FIG. 11.The outputs from circuits 74 (representing intermittency values of thesignals) are compared in a comparator 80, and the difference outputvalue is applied to a threshold circuit 82, which may be similar tocircuit 50 of FIG. 10, and which provides a single bit flow signalindicating whether there is correlation or not, i.e. separation or not.An output circuit 84 is provided for providing a flow output signal to aremote indicator device.

Similar circuits are provided to process the outputs of the otherpassband filters, so that, in this embodiment, five different indicatorsare provided of correlation. These may be combined to provide anincreased level of confidence in a transition from turbulent toseparated flow.

In addition some frequency bands may have an enhanced sensitivity to thetransition, and these may be weighted more heavily in the combinationwith other frequency bands. Further similar comparisons may be generatedwith pairs of sensors which are next-nearest neighbour, etc., in thecase a more extensive correlation may be desired.

The circuit indicated in FIG. 12 for establishing correlation isdesigned to be simple, so as to reduce cost and size of integration.However, the complexity may be increased as desired, where a moreaccurate estimate of correlation is desired. For example the envelopesof the output signals over predetermined time intervals may be compared.Other mechanisms for establishing cross-correlation will be apparent tothose skilled in the art. Further the more complex measures indicated inthe description with reference to FIG. 10 may be employed to replace therectification and integration steps above to provide a more accuratemeasure of intermittency.

1. A method of discriminating between laminar flow and other flow statesof a fluid at a predetermined location, comprising producing anelectrical analogue signal representative of flow rate at said location,assessing variability of said analogue signal, including detecting adesignated parameter of said analogue signal to provide a detectedversion thereof, and summing over time said detected version to providea summed version, and providing a flow signal indicating whether theflow is laminar in dependence upon the value of said summed version. 2.A method according to claim 1, wherein said assessing comprisesassessing the intermittency of said analogue signal.
 3. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein said detecting includes detecting the rateof change of said analogue signal, and said summing comprisesintegrating said detected version.
 4. Apparatus for discriminatingbetween laminar flow and other flow states of a fluid at a predeterminedlocation, comprising sensing means responsive to flow rate at saidlocation for producing an electrical analogue signal representativethereof, means for assessing variability of said analogue signal,including detection means for detecting a designated parameter ofvariability to provide a detected version of said analogue signal, andsumming means for summing over time said detected version of the signalto provide an output value representing variability, and means forproviding a flow signal indicating whether the flow is laminar independence upon said output value.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 4,wherein said assessing means comprises means for assessing theintermittency of said analogue signal, and said summing means providesan output signal representing intermittency.
 6. Apparatus according toclaim 4, wherein said sensing means comprises a heated resistanceelement exposed to fluid flow, and circuit means for maintaining theresistance element at a constant temperature.
 7. Apparatus according toclaim 4, wherein said detection means includes a capacitive AC couplingand/or a high pass filter for detecting the rate of change of saidanalogue signal.
 8. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein saiddetection means includes rectification means, preferably for half waverectification.
 9. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said summingmeans comprises a passive RC circuit providing an integration functionwith a predetermined time constant.
 10. Apparatus according to claim 4,wherein said summing means comprises an integrator circuit including anoperational amplifier, and further comprising sample and hold means forsampling the output of the integrator circuit.
 11. Apparatus accordingto claim 10, including clock means for synchronising operation of saidintegrator circuit and said sample and hold means.
 12. Apparatusaccording to claim 4, including threshold means for determining whethersaid output value is above or below one or more threshold values. 13.Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said sensing means, and saidassessing means are integrated together on a single chip.
 14. Apparatusaccording to claim 4, comprising a plurality of transducer meansdisposed in an array, and each arranged to provide a respective saidoutput value representing variability.
 15. Apparatus according to claim4, including an indication means remote from said transducer means, andresponsive to said flow signal.
 16. A method according to claim 2,wherein said detecting includes detecting the rate of change of saidanalogue signal, and said summing comprises integrating said detectedversion.
 17. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said sensing meanscomprises a heated resistance element exposed to fluid flow, and circuitmeans for maintaining the resistance element at a constant temperature.18. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said detection meansincludes a capacitive AC coupling and/or a high pass filter fordetecting the rate of change of said analogue signal.
 19. Apparatusaccording to claim 7, wherein said detection means includesrectification means, preferably for half wave rectification. 20.Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said summing means comprises apassive RC circuit providing an integration function with apredetermined time constant.